Autonomy and Relatedness in Adolescent-Parent Disagreements

Abstract

This study examines the way in which young people from diverse American ethnic backgrounds express autonomy and relatedness in their responses to disagreements with parents and the factors that influence their responses. Adolescents and emerging adults (N = 240) aged 14 to 22 years from four ethnic groups (European American, Mexican American, Armenian American, and Korean American) reported their projected actions (compliance, negotiation, self-assertion) and reasons for their actions in response to six hypothetical adolescent-parent disagreements and completed a scale of family interdependence. Participants from non-European backgrounds complied with parents more than did those from European backgrounds but did not differ in autonomy. Older European Americans used more family-oriented reasons than younger ones, and older Armenian and Mexican Americans were more assertive than younger ones. Family interdependence mediated ethnic differences in compliance and predicted self-assertion.